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Scottish football club insolvencies ‘probably inevitable’-Financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic could prove ‘fatal’, claims report.

By Stephen Halliday Wednesday, 13th May 2020, 4:52 pm

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The financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic could prove ‘fatal’ for some Scottish football clubs with insolvencies ‘probably inevitable’, according to the latest annual Football Distress Report. The cruel timing of the sport’s current suspension from a Scottish perspective is underlined by the revelation that club finances had reached an unprecedented level of stability in March with none of the 42 SPFL members showing signs of severe financial distress. But the report, from corporate insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor, claims that the majority of clubs in Scotland could now face ‘financial peril’ without government support if fixtures cannot return in front of spectators for the 2020-21 season.

The SPFL this week stated their aim to try and begin the new campaign on schedule in July, when their new £160 million five-year TV deals with Premier Sports and Sky Sports are due to begin. But it remains doubtful if that is a realistic prospect, even behind closed doors, while the SPFL is also without a title sponsor after Ladbrokes opted not to extend their five-year agreement which was worth around £1.5 million a season. “It’s the mid-size clubs without wealthy backers or lucrative television or sponsorship deals that are in the most perilous position,” warned Ken Pattullo, a managing partner at Begbies Traynor who have produced the Football Distress Report since 2012 when as many as six Scottish clubs were in severe financial distress. “Unfortunately, the double whammy of significant wage bills and sizeable fan bases that make them heavily reliant on match-day gate receipts could prove fatal in this unprecedented situation. “While I don’t believe we are looking at a doomsday scenario and most Scottish clubs will survive, I’m afraid that some insolvencies are probably inevitable among the hardest hit clubs.

“There are real concerns that cash strapped clubs may be pushed to the brink of insolvency. Finances are already stretched and every match that isn’t played means income from matchday ticket sales and hospitality is lost. “With several matches that were still left to play across all Scottish leagues (in the 2019-20 season), that represents hundreds of thousands of pounds of lost income, which clubs operating on small budgets can ill afford to lose. “Some clarity from the Scottish Government would be helpful now because, while in England the Premier League is in discussions about Project Restart, to resume playing televised matches behind closed doors, Scotland’s top-tier clubs seem to be nowhere near having a road map towards the resumption of any form of play, and meanwhile they remain in financially corrosive limbo.” While many of Scotland’s lower division clubs have already launched fund-raising initiatives in a bid to survive the Covid-19 crisis, it is those in the top flight who could be most at risk.

The most recent Uefa club licensing report revealed that Scottish Premiership clubs earn 43 percent of their annual revenue from ticket sales, more than any of the other top 15 leagues in Europe. “Our Scottish Premiership clubs are the most reliant on ticket sales of all the top-flight European clubs,” said Pattullo. “(That) also makes them extremely vulnerable to escalating financial problems, especially if it is decreed that the remainder of the season is to be played behind closed doors. “It also means they lack the financial clout of the English Premier League, and the cost to clubs of completing the outstanding games, when clubs have little or no income, could be devastating.”There now appears to be next to no chance, however, of the SPFL still attempting to conclude the 2019-20 Premiership season on the pitch. It is anticipated the SPFL board will ‘call’ the league imminently, with celtic declared champions and Hearts relegated on a points-per-game basis as the table stood when football was suspended two months ago.

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There was a hope that, with the obvious corruption of the Dundee vote, some spineless wasters might finally be prompted to act for the good of the game.

No such luck.

I suppose that, if you’ve been eating shit so long, you develop a taste for it and clean, fresh air holds no appeal.

Quite simply, I hope that every club who either voted NO or abstained (the coward’s NO) goes under, the sooner the better and we show the same enthusiasm to help them as they showed when change was in their hands and they fucked it.

In life, you generally get what you deserve and these parasites deserve fuck all.

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Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers lock out has 'shown up' the whole SPFL pyramid says Caledonian Braves boss-The former Rangers coach has called for a massive revamp of the voting system in Scotland after reconstruction failed.

Caledonian Braves boss Ricky Waddell has slammed any Lowland League lock-out which would see Kelty Hearts miss out on a shot at the SPFL. With league reconstruction thrown out last week the champions of the Braves division have had their chances of reaching League Two thrown out with Brechin no longer having to play a relegation play-off clash. Waddell believes the whole process has proved the voting system allows Scottish clubs to benefit themselves. The 39-year-old former Rangers coach believes the whole of the SPFL and SFA process needs to ripped up and new ideas brought to the table.

“It’s not being true to the pyramid of set-up,” said the Alliance Park gaffer. “I understand why people are making these decisions, because they can’t do something that would put their club in jeopardy – but that’s where the whole thing is flawed. “The best case scenario was the original 14-10-10-10 which would see Brora and Kelty promoted, and nobody would really be affected by that. “This has completely shown up the whole system, in my opinion. “Ultimately with this system you’re not going to get a fair result.

“It will be the fans, the players and the coaches that suffer. “The people on the pitch and who work around the club will be impacted, and the bigger picture needs to be looked at. “If you’re a football fan, you are looking at this thinking what is going on here? It’s the diehards that keep these clubs going. They might find other things to do on a Saturday. “It goes back to that traditional Scottish football thing; this is they way it’s always been done, so this is they way it will always be.

“For me, if we get three or four people who can independently make decisions for the betterment of Scottish football and make sure it’s thriving, you would want them making decisions. “People who have played or managed the game, or business leaders, you would want some way of deciding it. “The pyramid is there for ambitious clubs. That is why it’s there, but that in itself is flawed. “They should honour the pyramid in these reconstruction talks. The top division, all of the SPFL, the Highland League and Lowland League should all be viewed equally as a pyramid set-up. “They will argue they do it view it like that, but it’s clearly not going to happen with the way things are now. “In certain respects you can see why clubs vote that way, but you look at clubs like my own and Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers won’t get the opportunity they deserve. “A lot of money and time has gone into these clubs and they should be rewarded with an opportunity, at least, to get promoted.”https://www.BOYCOTT THIS LINK/sport/local-sport/kelty-hearts-brora-Rangers-lock-22020260

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We have truly reached rock bottom. We have a corrupt governing body and clubs going to extraordinary lengths to cover up the corruption. Perhaps the best thing that could happen from here is for many of the clubs to go bust, and what's left can collaborate to form regional alliances with 1 Dundee club, 1 Fife club etc.

Ally McCoist 'not counting' SPFL board votes as Rangers legend pinpoints key reason in favour of league probe-The Ibrox legend was typically forthright in his view that the SPFL's management of the current crisis has been "extremely poor".

Ally McCoist has claimed the SPFL 's victory in the EGM was a hollow one as he pointed to the number of votes coming from the league's board. Seven of the nine-man board are club representatives. They are: Alan Burrows (Motherwell), Les Gray (Hamilton Academical), Ross McArthur (Dunfermline Athletic), Ewen Cameron (Alloa Athletic), Ken Ferguson (Brechin City), Peter Davidson (Montrose) and Stewart Robertson (Rangers). Robertson appears to be the only one to vote for an investigation to take place as the Ibrox club lost their bid with 13 teams voting for the resolution, 27 against and two abstaining - giving Neil Doncaster's organisation a solid victory. While McCoist accepts the result, he feels that it wasn't as resounding as it first seemed.

He said on talkSPORT: "How many members of the SPFL board would have voted? Six or seven? "So my point would be that those on the board would have clearly voted with the SPFL so I'm not counting their votes to tell you the truth. "So for Neil Doncaster to say 'It's a democracy,' and we should move on... "What I would suggest is, it's by far and away, hardly a vote of confidence to have more than a third of clubs looking to have another inquiry into the SPFL. "I'm not sure it's over and done with. I think in the interest of Scottish football, I honestly believe there should have been an EGM for the SPFL to clear themselves. "It has been extremely poor management at best."

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We have truly reached rock bottom. We have a corrupt governing body and clubs going to extraordinary lengths to cover up the corruption. Perhaps the best thing that could happen from here is for many of the clubs to go bust, and what's left can collaborate to form regional alliances with 1 Dundee club, 1 Fife club etc.

Cut much of the cancer out of the game.

Rather there wasn't a Dundee club at all. Both are rancid cunts.

Only Fife club that deserves to survive is East Fife. The likes of Raith and Dunfermline can disappear and zero fucks would be given.

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Could someone put up a EGM vote result if you remove the votes of SPFL board members and self interest votes ie teams that want leagues handed to them, promotions gained and in Brechin case relegation avoided.

The former SFA chief executive reckons the process to prematurely end the season was botched from start to finish.

Regan feels that call, and the decision to withhold prize money until after the recent vote, has caused deep divisions which might never be repaired.

Ahead of tomorrow's SPFL EGM and Rangers' motion to have an independent enquiry into the current shambles, the ex-SFA supremo lamented the sorry state of affairs.

Regan said: “It is one hell of a mess and it needs unravelling.

"It needs some strong leadership to try and get all of the relevant parties into one place.

“It looks like herding cats by the sound of things.

“I said several weeks ago that the league season needed to be played out to a conclusion.

“One of the reasons for that was that if you brought it to a premature end it would require human intervention by club chairman and owners in order to decide what happens.

“The minute you have some clubs intervening to decide what happens to other clubs then you have a massive problem.

"And that is where we are now.

“You have clubs intervening in other clubs futures and that then puts relationships on the line.

“Right now it has escalated to the point people are issuing statements and making legal threats.

“It has got the potential to cause relationships damages that might never be fixed. And that is not a great place for Scottish football.

“Why does the season have to finish?

“This is a solution which needs creative thinking - not just black and white, let's kill it and cause absolute civil war between the people sat round the table.

“Why are some countries like Germany and England saying they will do what it takes to put the games back on and get the season completed?”

Rangers and a number of other teams have also claimed the SPFL put pressure on clubs ahead of the vote to end the season.

Regan firmly believes the whole process was unnecessarily rushed and was perplexed the Hampden chiefs didn’t hand their member clubs a financial lifeline while a more workable solution could be reached.

He told BBC Scotland: “There are two fundamental flaws on how things have unfolded so far.

“The first is by saying the season had to be completed to pay the money out.

“There could have been an alternative which was saying you get a percentage of your money, say 80 per cent, paid up front and then when the season's finished you do the balancing act based on what else you pay.

“Most clubs would not move positions dramatically from where they are now.

“If you got the money out there it would help clubs to manage the cash flow challenges they were facing at the point they were asked to vote.

“The second flaw was asking to make a decision in 48 hours when in reality it could have taken up to 28 days.

“Those two things together have put massive pressure on Scottish football to make it like a pressure cooker situation.

“And suddenly it has exploded into an independent investigation.

“A request for an investigation is just a way of saying I’m dissatisfied, I’m upset with how this has materialised.”

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Could someone put up a EGM vote result if you remove the votes of SPFL board members and self interest votes ie teams that want leagues handed to them, promotions gained and in Brechin case relegation avoided.

Would be interesting to see how closer it would be.

Just done that.

But you can’t exclude the scum on the grounds they want gifted a title yet count Hearts who are trying to save their ass.

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Could someone put up a EGM vote result if you remove the votes of SPFL board members and self interest votes ie teams that want leagues handed to them, promotions gained and in Brechin case relegation avoided.

Would be interesting to see how closer it would be.

21-12 with all board members removed

Zero point in removing teams with self interest because for every Dundee Utd theres a Hearts, or for a Raith theres a Stranraer. All pretty much balances out since Brechin is on the board too.

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Another thing that should not be underestimated when considering how clubs voted is the power of those club board members who clearly have a massive influence/bullying of other clubs within their division. They were clearly bullied in the resolution and could've easily been bullied again.